Last Friday, April 18, 1941 - eight British transport ships from India began disembarking a brigade of British, Indian and Nepalese troops at Iraq's main port of Basra, 300 miles south-east of Baghdad. The landing operation was carried out under the protection of 400 British troops air-lifted from India the previous day.

The move is 'one up' for the British in a shadow boxing match they have been fighting since April 1 with their old enemy, Rashid Ali, the Iraqi Prime Minister. The British generals and the Iraqi government are now treating each other with such exaggerated correctness that the general belief in Basra is that something is 'going to blow up soon'.

Britain's love-hate relationship with Iraq has been going on for a quarter century, ever since the country was freed from Turkish rule in the First World War. Rashid Ali has come to symbolize the 'hate' relationship, Nuri Pasha the 'love'. Nuri, a wily old negotiator known affectionately as 'sheep face', has long worked to create an Iraqi kingdom out of antagonistic desert tribes, coaxing the British out of their role of conquerors into that of benefactors. Popular with the British for his wit, Nuri has acquired the benign cynicism of one who survived when others succumbed to the assassin.

THE GOLDEN SQUARE

Although it is his custom, for example, to greet the chief of British Air Intelligence with the enigmatic question 'How are you today, father of all spies?' his barbed humor is seldom resented. But now Nuri is 'out'. The stern-faced Rashid is 'in' and has decided to throw in his lot with the Axis powers.

By treaty, Britain has the right to move troops from India through Iraq to reinforce its garrisons in Palestine. In the present circumstances, the Empire troops are likely to be a long time 'in transit' through Iraq. Rashid is backed by the 'Golden Square' - four powerful army and air force generals - who have put the considerable strength of their British-trained and equipped forces at his disposal. Everyone has been surprised by his failure to oppose and eject the British at Basra before more reinforcements arrive from India.

OLD AMBITIONS

Had the British landed before last Wednesday, the 'Golden Square" would almost certainly have opposed them, despite the presence of seven British warships (including an aircraft-carrier) off Basra. On Wednesday, however, Rashid Ali learned that military supplies expected from Germany had been diverted to Greece, where the battle is tougher than the German High Command expected.

Rashid Ali's German supplies would have come through neighboring Syria, a territory held by Petain's Vichy France. The Syrians - a people sorely divided among themselves - want speedy independence. If they can agree to act jointly, they can probably overthrow the weak French regime, but others, including the Italians, are playing the power game in Damascus.

But Italian prestige has waned with defeat in Libya and elsewhere they have been elbowed out by the Germans, who are resurrecting the ambitions associated with the Kaiser's dream of an old 'Berlin-Baghdad Railway'. With the French and Italians out of the running, who should the Syrians seek a deal with - the Germans or the British? The British are all around them - in Cyprus, Palestine, Trans-Jordan and Iraq - but the Germans look like winning the war. Events in Iraq will decide what happen in Syria.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Britain's obsession with the 'Middle East' is part sentimental, the 'life-line to India'/ More practically, it is the main source of our oil. Suppose the Iraqis cut the pipeline to Palestine at Kirkuk (near Iran) and divert the oil flow to Syria through the Northern pipeline? We would lose it; Germany would gain it. This is the real strategic importance of Iraq. And what of neighboring Persia, whose oil we now need even more. Reza Shah, the fiercely independent soldier-king, has 2,000 German technicians in the country. They would all too easily help him to achieve his ambition of ending British influence in Persia by seizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's installations at Abadan, barely 40 miles across the border from Basra. Reza Shah too, has his eye on events in Iraq.

From Olympian heights in London, Churchill has his mind full of more pressing problems in Greece and Libya. On Friday, he told his military commanders: "Don't worry about Iraq for the present. It looks like going smoothly."

As reported by the War Papers